Prevalence of Suicidal Ideation and Associated Risk Factors Among College Students: Eritrea

Abstract

Michael Berhe, Yonas Tewelde, Filimon Yohannes, Haben Berhane, Eyob Azaria

Background: College is a time when many young adults feel a pressure to develop identities, develop life goals, and make meaningful relationships. Internal conflicts can develop when these complex social events, academic roles, and extracurricular activities conflict with an individual’s beliefs or schedule and Internal conflicts have been correlated to higher rates of depression, and an increase the risk of suicide. Since there are no studies conducted to examine predictors of suicide ideation in Eritrea, it is problematic in the formulation of effective intervention strategies. So, identification of the predictors of suicide ideation will contribute in implementation of practical measures.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to assess suicidal ideation and its related risk factors among college students in Eritrea. Method: 466 participants were selected from a total number 6929 population who were undergraduate college students and attending school in November 2017. They were selected using stratified sampling method and allocated to the 7 colleges which were considered as stratum using Proportional sampling allocation. Data was collected using five WHO based questions (MDI, AUDIT, MSPSS, MSSI, HADS) and analyzed with a Descriptive statistic such as frequencies, percentages, as well as Analytical statistics such as chi-square, logistic regression analysis were used to assess the prevalence and predictors of suicidal ideation; using 5% as a level of significance.

Result: The overall occurrence of suicidal ideations in the study sample was 25.9%. The risk factors identified in the study were depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse and perceived social support, attending religious activity and satisfaction with the credit hours assigned were significantly associated with suicidal ideation and they were found to be as protective factors. While no significant differences among those with suicidal ideations in terms of gender, religion, study program, where you live.

Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the importance of establishing prevention and intervention programmers on university campuses to create more awareness about suicide and offer more education to students on this topic in general, as well as to specifically offer counseling and support to students suffering from suicidal ideations

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